Brief Description of the Prior Art
A number of types of racks which can be tested upon table tops or the like, and used to support relatively small articles of a right parallelepipid configuration, have been previously proposed.
One rack of this type is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,603. This patent discloses a structure capable of being used in such a way that small, flat, right parallelepiped containers can be alternated from one position to the other to present a corner and to thereby allow access to the containers and easy handling thereof. This rack is used for videotape cartridges, and each of the slots or bins which are provided are of the same configuration, but an article when stored in the rack can be deliberately canted forward, if desired, so that it extends at a different angle with respect to the others in order to facilitate its removal. Further, a separator must be used between each pair of contiguous articles within the rack, so that the articles cannot be placed close against each other in side-by-side relation.
Another type of storage rack or case is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,756,383. This rack is used for storing magnetic tape cassettes or boxes of such cassettes which are slipped in between guiding ribs, and rest upon supporting horizontal ribs. Adjacent tape cases are separated from each other by partition elements which prevent storage of the maximum number of tape boxes over the length of the storage rack.
Another type of tape cassette holder for storing tape cassettes is that which is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,912. This rack is principally a support rack having a base plate and a back rib which prevents sliding of the cassettes out of the rack. A series of dividers separate the several cassettes, and this permits them to be grasped and removed from the rack.
Another type of storage system in which either boxed or unboxed tape cassettes can be stored is that which is described and depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,453. In this system, as in others discussed and described, dividers extend between the several boxes of tapes to maintain separation therebetween, and all of the tapes are located in alignment with each other when they are placed in the storage system.
None of the described prior art storage racks or boxes enable the storage objects or articles to be placed in contiguous, abutting relationship to each other as they are aligned from end-to-end within the rack, and placed in side-by-side relation. Moreover, none of them facilitates the staggered positioning of the articles stored in the rack so that exposed corners of alternate articles are easily accessible for grasping to remove each individual article without difficulty.